"Annalise Gibson" Detective Chavez mused. "Can't say I remember the name but so many people go missing in L.A. in a week that's it's hard to keep track. What's this all about Det. Espinoza?"

Dan shrugged. The forensics team he had left at the victim's home were hard at work tearing his house and garage apart and hadn't needed him to oversee their activities. Ella had turned up just as he was leaving and promised to call if they found anything but had seemed dubious that they would. "Not sure – but our vic from the Cecil had some interest in this girl so we're trying to run down all the angles."

Chavez raised one bushy eyebrow. "The Cecil again? Man – it seems like that place is jinxed. People go in but they don't come back out - at least not alive." The older Hispanic detective stared down at the flyer, remembering the last time he had been involved in a disappearance at the Cecil. It hadn't ended well then and he had a nagging feeling this one wouldn't either. "Face isn't familiar either. Let me check with one of the other guys and I'll get back to you." He pushed the paper to the edge of his desk and opened a folder, effectively ending the conversation.

Dan walked away annoyed at the older man's brush-off. The LAPD was a sprawling organization but in many ways it had a small town attitude – especially towards people they found to be too "different". The revelation that Lt. Pierce was actually the notorious Sinnerman and the lieutenant's untimely death had made everyone leery of people from his precinct. Not that anyone would come right out and air their suspicions. But it always hung in the air – more so whenever Lucifer made an appearance. And ever since Chloe had returned from her "vacation" her "consultant" seemed to be around even more than ever.

"Hey Dan!" a cheery voice called out. A youngish, Asian man in very casual jeans and jacket bounced down the hall towards him, the man's badge swinging from his belt. "Dude! Long time no see!"

Dan grinned. "Hey Tao, what's going on? Thought you were assigned to a drug taskforce – not missing persons." Bill Tao was a friend from Dan's old neighborhood, a good kid that had been in one of the cadet classes that had formed just after Dan had made detective. They had been close as kids with Dan acting a big-brother to the younger man but it had been ages since they had last talked.

Billy Tao's smile faltered for a moment. "Yeah – well that didn't pan out quite like I hoped it would." The younger man looked past Dan towards Chavez's desk. "What brings you to missing persons?"

"Trying to find out who was assigned to the case of a girl named Annalise Gibson" Dan admitted. "Chavez didn't seem to recognize the name."

"You have any idea how many people get reported missing around here?" Tao scoffed. "350 a month – almost 3900 a year. It would be weird if he did recognize it. Sometime the case turns out to be nothing – person just needed to get away. Sometime they are having mental, emotional or drug issues. But as long as they are adults and not a danger to themselves or others there really isn't much we can do."

Dan sighed. "From the looks of it there is a college student, pretty girl reported missing by her dad. Can't tell more than that unless I can get the file. Chavez said he's call me if he heard anything and I can probably poke around the missing person's reports on the server if I need to. Just was hoping to talk to whoever took the original report."

Tao cocked his head to one side, his brow furrowed as he thought. "Tell you what – come on over to my office and let's see what's in the system. If we find the original report at least you'll know who to talk to next. And while we're poking around you can tell me about this new case at the Cecil. Is the hotel as spooky as it looks?"

Dan sighed. "I wouldn't know. Chloe was doing the initial walkthrough of the crime scene. You don't believe all that crap about the hotel being cursed, do you?"

Tao shrugged. "I followed the last missing person case at the place on the web and some of what was dug up about the place seemed pretty out there. But then again – this is L.A. You never know what you're going to find.'

"True" Dan replied, slapping his friend on the shoulder. "Very true."

Chloe and Lucifer returned to her office, with Amenadiel in tow. "The new Lieutenant is pretty laid back" Chloe warned "but the two of you had best be on your best behaviors. Lucifer is hard enough to explain without…."

"We understand" Amenadiel replied, giving his brother a hard look. "If there is anything I can do to help…"

"Hey Chloe!" Elle Lopez's enthusiasm preceded her into the small space where Chloe Decker's desk was situation. "So – I got thinking about where we found the body…"

"And you found a lot of nonsense online about all the other people who had died or disappeared from the hotel" Lucifer commented dryly. "So did my brother. None of which really tells us anything about why this wanker of an accountant had rented a room there or why he died there."

"Technically – he died outside in the alleyway" Elle replied. "Corner hasn't finished his report – probably won't until tomorrow. I'm running some preliminary tests on his clothing but so far nothing to tell me any more than we already know."

"Shot or stabbed?" Lucifer asked.

"Looks like shot" Elle looked down at the notes she had been holding when she spotted Chloe. "damage to the clothes and gunshot residue on the shirt. Small caliber, close up. Looks like whoever took him down was right in his face when he pulled the trigger."

"He – or she?" Chloe mused. "His wife wasn't terribly grief stricken at his loss. Neither was her brother. No real motive apparent for either of them - not really. Seemed like the only one interested in finding out what happened to our vic was his boss."

"Probably afraid the man's death would have a bad effect on his clientele" Lucifer sneered. "Wants to look good to his new investors who might find a death in the company unsettling."

Amenadiel shook his head ruefully. "Or he might actually care that one of his employees was murdered."

"Oh, that isn't likely is it?" Lucifer shot back. "Bradley isn't any different from the rest of those wealthy sorts. Puts on a good front but really, when he's not in front of an audience…"

Chloe raise a hand to stop the tirade. "Whatever. Right now he's being cooperative with the investigation and I'd like to keep it that way." She looked over at Ella's crestfallen expression. "Sorry – you were saying something about what you found online?"

Elle gave both Amenadiel and Lucifer a quick smile and moved to Chloe's desk, repeating the search she had run before their arrival. "Mostly history of the hotel… Did you know the first reported shooting in the Cecil was in 1927? Percy Ormond Cook shot himself in the head after a failed reconciliation with his wife. Other's ingested poison, fell from the building – not to mention the serial killers that rented rooms there."

Chloe glanced up as Lucifer yawned. "This boring you?"

Lucifer shrugged. "The hotel's history is long, sordid and yes… quite boring. And has nothing to do with your current case."

"Not until the web sleuths who chimed in on the Lisa Lam case start picking this one apart" Ella replied with a frown. "You know they hounded one guy into a mental ward because they were so sure he was responsible for her death that they took their suspicions to the online community. And the poor guy hadn't even been in the country when the girl died."

Chloe looked up at the two men in front her – one Celestial and one Fallen – and wondered if it would be worth it to ask them about that previous case. "Look – I know a lot of people are not convinced LAPD came up with the right solution but that was years ago and I have a fresh victim in the morgue right now. Is there any chatter about him online yet?"

Ella shook her head. "Just a few mentions about another death at the Cecil. I think the web sleuths might not be paying as much attention to this death as they did they other…"

"Because John McIntyre isn't a pretty, innocent looking little girl visiting the big, bad city for the first time" Lucifer replied flippantly. "Give them time – those sorts are like blowflies. They will eventually smell the blood and come running."

"That's incredibly gross" Ella responded with a shudder. "And probably also incredibly accurate." She peered at the screen for a moment then pointed at some new messages popping up on the blog she had been reading. "So who is Annalise Gibson?"

"Why do you ask?" Chloe responded, looking down at the screen.

"Because all of a sudden her name is coming up in conversation." Ella replied, waving her hand at the screen. "Your vic was looking for her – and now so are the web sleuths."

"Lovely" Lucifer muttered. "Just bloody lovely."